Month: March 2023

March was an excellent month for album releases; as usual, there are too many to cover! Part of the glut of great records is attributable to one label alone – see my write-up below about the deluge from the Portuguese label Clean Feed. A common thread runs through most of the great releases of March 2023 – a brave embrace of multiple genres at once and an effort to move beyond categories to find a new way of expressing ideas that are common to us all. Great music will do that – convey what is human and affirm that connection in the ear and mind of the listener.

Pick hit!
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer & Shahzad Ismaily – Love In Exile
(released March 24th, 2023)

Link to Apple Music
Link to Spotify

Arooj Aftab – Vocals
Vijay Iyer – Acoustic and electric pianos
Shahzad Ismaily – Electric bass

Combining Arooj Aftab’s haunting vocals and the mesmerizing instrumentals of Vijay Iyer’s piano with Shahzad Ismaily’s bass immediately sounds like a terrific idea. The new record created by these three musicians has exceeded even these high expectations – Love In Exile reveals an astounding stream of consciousness and pacing that segues beautifully from beginning to end. The three musicians also explain their music really well in a terrific interview with Nate Chinen at NPR, which you can listen to here. I love Aftab’s funny remark that they would avoid “new-aging it” when an idea got tired. Love In Exile is surely a fusion of jazz and world music idioms, but it’s also better than that – it communicates in a language that transcends genre and speaks to the listener directly—an early frontrunner for album of the year.

Pick hit!
Clean Feed “Data Dump” (the good kind)
I’m sure you’ll agree a “data dump” does not have positive associations. But that was what came to mind when I got an email from Clean Feed on March 21st, announcing the release of 11 new albums on the same day. I thought they must be putting out a bunch of old stuff stuck in the vaults, so imagine my surprise when I discovered each album is a gem, one distinctive and magnificent release after another. It’s too much to review them all here, so here is an alphabetical list of these releases, which are linked for your own exploration:

André Carvalho – Lost in Translation Vol​.​II

Asbjørn Lerheim | Roger Arntzen | Michiyo Yagi | Tamaya Honda – Chrome Hill Duo meets D​ō​j​ō​: Live at Aketa No Mise

François Houle Genera Sextet – In Memoriam

Grdina | Maneri | Lillinger – Live at the Armoury

Luis Lopes ABYSS MIRRORS – echoisms

Mário Costa – Chromosome

MOVE – The City

Roots Magic Sextet – Long Old Road

Sei Miguel Unit Core – Road Music

Sei Miguel – The Original Drum

THE SELVA – Camar​ã​o​-​Giraf

Several of these did grab our ears right away (and are reviewed below), but they all are more than worthy! Right now, we’re thinking about packing up our bags and taking a long – and musical – trip to Lisbon, which judging by these albums, might be the world’s center for exciting music.

Mário Costa – Chromosome
(released March 21st, 2023)

Mário Costa – drums, electronics & composition
Cuong Vu – trumpet
Benoît Delbecq – piano, synths & samplers
Bruno Chevillon – double bass

Mário Costa is a Portuguese drummer with a very unique sound. On this, his second solo album, Costa plays the trap drum kit but does it with a range of soft percussive ideas that engage with – but don’t overwhelm – the rest of the band. The quiet drumming prompts you to hear the interaction between Delbecq’s keyboards and Vu’s trumpet. The knotty compositions are just as fascinating as the band’s dynamics. A terrific album from a real talent.

Sei Miguel Unit Core – Road Music
(released March 21st, 2023)

SM – all compositions, arrangements and (pocket) trumpet
Fala Mariamc- alto trombone
Bruno Silva – electric guitar
Pedro Castello Lopes – triangle on 2, clave on 3, pandeiro on 4, kalengo on 8

Sei Miguel – The Original Drum
(released March 21st, 2023)

André Gonçalves – Lyra-8 on track 1
Bruno Parrinha – Alto Clarinet on track 3
Ernesto Rodrigues – Viola on track 2
Fala Mariam – Alto Trombone on all tracks
Helena Espvall – Cello on track 4
Monsieur Trinité Udu – Mbwata on track 2
Nuno Torres – Alto Saxophone on track 3
Paulo Curado – Flute on track 3
Rafael Toral – Modified MS-2 Feedback on track 4
Raphael Soares – Claves on tracks 1 and 3
Rodrigo Amado – Tenor Saxophone on track 3
Sami Tarik – Tamborim on track 3, Pandeiro on track 4
Sei Miguel – (Pocket) Trumpet on all tracks

Two outstanding albums by Portuguese pocket trumpet legend Sei Miguel, both released on the same day. Hard to pick between the two – they are cut from the same musical cloth, and complement each other. The Original Drum is a studio album that makes effective use of spare background percussion and electronics to give a spacial dimension to the music. The settings help lend a centered peacefulness to Migeul’s microtonal trumpet. Road Music consists of live recordings from 2016 to 2021, which focus on the dialogue between Migeul and alto trombonist Fala Mariam that is crucial to both albums. Miguel and Mariam share a very simpatico language, creating complementary lines of sound, texture, and thought. Miguel emphasizes the importance of the dialogue he shares with his musicians in his music and compositions – “My pieces, more or less ambitious, are on the brink, the edge: between what I think I know and what I think I ignore. Visions. Tributes. And, of course, also a means to highlight the talent of musicians I am grateful to work with.”

Grdina | Maneri | Lillinger – Live at the Armoury
(released March 21st, 2023)

Gordon Grdina guitar, oud
Mat Maneri viola
Christian Lillinger drums

Grdina, Maneri, and Lilinger are well-known, all essential players in improvised music. This entry sounds especially noteworthy for its sheer musicality – it’s a remarkable achievement to make completely free, outside music that’s not intimidating, where everything clicks so completely. Maneri, in particular, shines here – I loved the section 14 minutes into the opening track, when the music softens, and Maneri plays a cycle of sustained, eerie notes over subtle drum accents. When totally improvised music finds this feeling of presence in the moment, nothing is better.

THE SELVA – Camar​ã​o​-​Girafa
(released March 21st, 2023)

Ricardo Jacinto cello and electronics (+ harmonium on Cocuruto)
Gonçalo Almeida double bass and electronics
Nuno Morão drums and percussion

THE SELVA, according to its Bandcamp page, “explores the intersections between the broad musical spectrum of each of its members, presenting live an improvised, electro-acoustic, multi-idiomatic musical dialogue and strongly influenced by minimal and repetitive strategies.” The band states their music is “without a defined genre and reaches progressively more focused compositions on repeated motifs and slow textural transformations, new horizons and contours.” The music is at the intersection of jazz, classical, and rock, each moment morphing from one to the other. Why use labels? The album is a persuasive argument to leave them behind.

Ludovica Burtone – Sparks
(Released March 3rd, 2023)

Ludovica Burtone – violin
Fung Chern Hwei – violin
Leonor Falcon – viola
Mariel Roberts – cello
Marta Sanchez – piano
Matt Aronoff – bass
Nathan Ellman-Bell – drums
Sami Stevens – guest vocalist
Melissa Aldana – tenor sax on “Awakening”

Composer, arranger, and violinist Ludovica Burtone presents a debut album inspired by her experiences immigrating from Italy to the United States. The album’s mix of classical, jazz, and a string quartet with rhythm section integration is stimulating and fun. Bizarrely, the Bandcamp page does not list the players, who are all world-class. I love Melissa Aldana’s sax feature, but even better is Marta Sanchez’s piano throughout, a constant complement and diversion to Burtone’s dynamic settings.

Nguyên Lê Trio – Silk and Sand
(released February 24th, 2023)

Nguyên Lê – guitar
Chris Jennings – bass
Rhani Krija – percussion

Before this album, I had never heard of French/Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê. If you want to get a visual metaphor for his sound – check out the picture on the front page of Lê’s website, which shows him shredding his axe while standing on top of an ancient mountain, his robes flowing behind him in the wind. Wild! Yes, this album is a blast, ping-ponging back and forth from influences from Asian music and modern guitar music – or, as he declares on one of his albums, “roots to future, local to global.” Evocative and fun.

Genevieve Artadi – Forever Forever
(released March 17th, 2023)

Genevieve Artadi – vocals and
Pedro Martins -guitar
Chiquita Magic – synth bass
Christopher Fishman -piano
Louis Cole – drums
Daniel Sunshine – drums

Genevieve Artadi’s Forever Forever is an exciting new release that Artadi says “encompasses a truly kaleidoscopic range of influences . . . rooted in jazz, but winding up at alternative rock or avant pop, it’s in the lineage of legendary boundary-testers Stereolab and Talking Heads.” Atari describes the influences that inspired the album as “random flashes of inspiration from Chopin, Bach (I was learning some 2-part inventions during the lockdown), Debussy, Nancy Wilson, Björk, Ryan Power, Nobukazu Takemura, The Beatles, Dionne Warwick…” A great mix and the album takes one surprising and delightful turn after the next. If you’re in the NYC area, you can see Artardi on May 3rd at Public Records in Brooklyn.

GEORGE – Letters to George
(released January 27th, 2023)

Anna Webber – tenor saxophone/flute
Aurora Nealand – voice/alto saxophone/soprano saxophone/keyboards
Chiquita Magic – keyboards/voice/piano
John Hollenbeck – drums/piano/composition

Letters to George is music born as a reaction to the world’s darkness. GEORGE leader and drummer John Hollenbeck says, “The murder of George Floyd was a point where people like me, who thought they were already on a righteous path, realized they were ignorant and de-sensitized to the rampant racism, sexism and injustice that is ingrained in our world. After trying to get over the utter stupidity and anguish that I felt in the aftermath of Floyd’s death, I promised to work harder and to not forget. In hindsight, I realized that this was the beginning of my new band, GEORGE, which is in a quiet way, a tribute to George Floyd.” Hollenbeck decided to make this change by challenging himself with a new band of musicians (all women) that could create a stimulating combination of sounds and textures. Here Hollenbeck has brilliantly combined (along with his trap drums) the powerful sax and flute playing of Anna Webber, the altogether one-of-a-kind Aurora Nealand on vocals and saxophone, and the energetic keyboards of Chiquita Magic (who also plays keys on Genevieve Artadi’s Forever Forever reviewed above). It’s a diverse set of sounds, which remarkably combine into a cohesive band aesthetic. I hope these musicians continue to play and develop their concept together – the world needs more records from GEORGE.

TNB Achival Release of the Month:
As​-​Shams Archive Vol. 1: South African Jazz, Funk & Soul 1975​-​1982
(released March 3rd, 2023)

Sometimes compilations don’t gel for a variety of reasons – the styles of the artists may not complement each other, the label may not have the rights to the best material from the artist(s) involved, or maybe the artists used to fill out the album don’t have the juice to make a great release. Those thoughts are blown away when you’re listening to a compilation like As-Shams Vol. 1 – the voltage of these artists from a prime period in South African funk and jazz is enough to light a small city. Highlights abound, from Kippie Moeketsi’s ebullient alto sax, the chromaticism of Tete Mbambisa’s big band sound, or in particular, Basil Coetzee’s iconic tenor, which graces four of the album’s ten tracks. Bandcamp did an excellent Daily feature called “Legendary South African Jazz Label As-Shams Gets a Second Life,” which spotlights this release and the mid-1970s South African scene. Maybe what’s most remarkable is that these albums were produced and recorded under Apartheid and in the shadow of the Soweto Uprising of 1976—a tribute to invincible music and the spirit of freedom.

(Shorter in Belgrade October 2010; Image from Tim Dickerson)

As you likely already know, Wayne Shorter died on March 2nd at age 89. A career as influential and productive as Shorter’s is not easy to adequately cover, so check out the obituary by Nate Chinen at The New York Times for a good look at Shorter’s brilliance. The depth and impact of Shorter’s music is breathtaking. Nobody in music surpasses Shorter’s importance as both a composer and improviser.

In the many tributes and reminiscences after Shorter’s death, author and critic Mark Stryker (@Mark_Stryker) published a Twitter thread that jumped out and inspired this post. Here’s a screenshot:

Stryker argues that Shorter’s ballads are a supreme element of his art. Composer and bandleader Darcy James Argue joined the conversation and added that Shorter’s ballads rival and arguably surpass those of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Highest praise indeed! Stryker created a playlist of these ballads, which we have duplicated in Spotify here and Apple Music here.

We’ve chosen to focus on three Shorter ballads that illustrate important eras of Shorter’s music-making. Wayne Shorter lives!

“Nefertiti”
Link to Spotify
Link to Apple Music
Link to YouTube

(album cover art from Columbia Records)
(The Miles Davis Quintet, on the album Nefertiti – Recorded on June 7th, 1967, at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio, Released March 1968)
Personnel:
Miles Davis – trumpet
Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock – piano
Ron Carter – double bass
Tony Williams – drums

The lore surrounding the tune “Nefertiti,” and the band that recorded it, is immense. Miles Davis’ 2nd “classic quintet” created one of the essential blueprints for modern music. The album Nefertiti is the third of the Davis quintet and the last acoustic album Davis would record. Shorter’s 16-bar tune, “Nefertiti,” was the first track recorded for the album and sets the album’s loose but “locked in” feel. Herbie Hancock (who ordinarily does not do interviews about the process of music) gives a deep and illuminating interview about the recording of this song. Hancock suggested to Davis the most radical choice on “Nefertiti”: to not play solos. Instead, the band cycles through the melody over and over, each time with Shorter and Davis playing with more dissonance and the piano and drums playing with more independence. Williams’ drums are especially prominent: saxophonist Bob Belden called the performance a “drum concerto as composition.” You can’t listen to this song without dwelling on Shorter’s greatness as a composer – he sets all the elements in place that create one of the definitive performances in music. All the planets are aligned – an incredible performance of a definitive tune by a singular band.

“Ana Maria”
Link to Spotify
Link to Apple Music
Link to YouTube

(Album cover art from thejazzrecord.com)

(from Wayne Shorter’s Native Dancer – Recorded September 12th, 1974; Released January 18th, 1975)
On “Ana Maria”:
Wayne Shorter – Soprano saxophone
David Amaro – acoustic guitar
Herbie Hancock – piano
Wagner Tiso – organ
Dave McDaniel – bass
Robertinho Silva – drums
Airto Moreira – percussion

There’s an epic feeling about the meeting of the music greats – I’m thinking of the majestic studios recording of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, the epic duel of Max Roach and Cecil Taylor at Town Hall, or the simpatico collaborations of David Bowie and Brian Eno. There are many other examples, but the meeting of two of the greatest – Wayne Shorter and Milton Nascimento, should be on the list. There are many reasons why the collaboration of Shorter with the Brazilian music star is special, but I think the top one is the innate lyricism both musicians share. Not just lyricism, but two complementary versions of that rare talent – Shorter bringing a terse, elliptical, evocative variant and Nascimento an effusive, naturally buoyant majesty. The combination is magic.

So it’s bizarre to think now that Shorter fans who were looking for more of “Nefertiti” were disappointed with Native Dancer when it was released in 1975. Maybe because Nascimento was a new, unfamiliar name, it was not easy to see the greatness of this album and its successful fusion of musical worlds. Native Dancer is a distinct one-off for both musicians and, from this vantage point, a timeless classic.

Don’t miss out on listening to the whole album, but turning to our focus on the ballads, Native Dancer features two remarkable examples penned by Shorter. At the midpoint of the album is Shorter’s “Diane.” Preceded by several tunes that feature Nascimento’s expansive tunesmith and singing, the terse haiku of “Diane” is a cool balm. It’s fragmented melody suggests worlds of beauty, and serves as a perfect change of direction to the album’s otherwise effusive music. The second Shorter ballad of the album, “Ava Maria,” is named after Shorter’s wife and features Shorter on soprano sax, which had supplanted the tenor as Shorter’s main axe in the 1970s.

“Ana Maria” is a long-form composition with a fully drawn out and complex melodic line. As educator Ron Grottos observes, “Wayne Shorter composed it so that each A section begins the same way, but then goes off in slightly different ways. In this respect, and in its extended length, “Ana Maria” is similar to some of Cole Porter’s songs such as “So In Love” and “Begin The Beguine.” This structure gives the tune the feel of a composed improvisation. Shorter’s playing breaks free of the melodic line only in the last minute of the performance; as usual, he says a lot with just a few phases, effectively as a coda to the song. The flowing lyricism of Shorter’s playing throughout is wondrous.

“Starry Night”
Link to Spotify
Link to Apple Music
Link to YouTube

(The Wayne Shorter Quartet at the 2010 New Orleans and Heritage Festival; L-R Danilo Perez, Shorter, John Patitucci, Brian Blade; Image Rick Diamond/Getty Images)

(from Wayne Shorter’s Without A Net – Recorded live European tour and studio recordings, circa October-November 2011, released February 5th, 2013)
Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone
Danilo Perez – piano
John Patitucci – bass
Brian Blade – drums

Shorter’s “Footprints Quartet” quartet with Perez/Patitucci/Blade is the touring band he used for the last two decades and is the rhythm section on most of his recordings from 2001 onward. It’s an incredible band, visible as “bringing avant-garde practice into the heart of the jazz mainstream,” according to Chinen in the NYT obit linked above. You can hear what makes this band special throughout the first album Shorter did his return to Blue Note, 2013’s Without A Net. This band emphasizes searching and probing music – a kind of collective quest in real time. Another thrill of listening to the Shorter live albums with this band is the palpable sense of the music existing in a specific moment. Usually, I’m not a big fan of grunts, groans, and yelps from the band, but here those exhortations make a perfect complement (and outgrowth) of the quest that the band is on. So when we hear what I think is Brian Blade exhaling “phew” several times during Shorter’s magnificent solo on “Plaza Real,” it only adds to the thrill – Blade (if it’s him) is a surrogate for the listener and rivets our attention and appreciation. Even better is the over-the-top “Oh My God!” exclaimed by somebody from the Imani Winds during “Pegasus.” Depending on your mood, it’s cheesy fun or confirms you’re listening to the heaviest thing in the world.

This searching mode of music making creates a distinctive kind of ballad, different from “Nefertiti” and “Ana Maria.” While those other songs reveal their structure and melodic material right away, “Starry Night” builds slowly in a linear rather than cyclical way. The performance starts with a piano introduction from Perez that captures the tune’s melodic material but shrouds it in a dramatic rubato. Shorter’s tenor sax enters the song two and a half minutes in – he does not sketch the melody but instead plays a beautiful counterpoint that, while brief, is ravishingly beautiful. After a contemplative piano and bass interlude, the band collectively builds the music to a dramatic crescendo. Thom Jurek captures the song’s flavor in his All Music review: “the group aesthetic is especially noticeable in the penetrating romanticism of “Starry Night,” where what appears restrained — at least initially — is actually quite exploratory and forceful.” For a terrific view into the chemistry and power of this band, check out this video of “Stary Night” performed live. One does not usually associate a ballad with the force and volume the band gets to on this tune – in both the performance on Without a Net and the one on YouTube, the ballad is used as a springboard for an exercise of dynamic interplay that is this band’s raison d’être.

Of course, we could fill many more blog posts or an entire book about the fantastic ballads that Wayne Shorter wrote and performed. Make sure you listen to the great playlist that Stryker suggested – gems from top to bottom. Some further highlights among the highlights – of course, the classic “Infant Eyes” from all-time great Speak No Evil, Shorter’s heartbreaking tribute to Billy Holiday, “Lady Day,” and the sophisticated “Dear Sir,” which Shorter contributed to Lee Morgan’s The Procrastinator . . . the beauty feels endless the more time you spend there. Wayne Shorter gave us so much music that will be there for us and future generations of listeners. The music will always be there for you.

(Shorter and Nascimento, Image from Rolling Stone, credited to Instagram)